It's funny how the Circle of Life works in college football. Last year DJ Lagway was the backup QB we swore up and down needed to be the starter for the Florida Gators. That only happened once Graham Mertz went down for the year, but Florida's offense looked much more dynamic once Lagway was in.
Fast forward one year, and Lagway is now feeling the heat, and there are calls for him to be benched in favor of the backup Tramell Jones.
Lagway had an awful game against LSU, throwing five interceptions. But whether it's Lagway, Jones, or Clay Millen under center, the Gators have a problem that stems way deeper than QB1.
Changing QBs doesn't change Florida's problems
Three games into the season, it's clear that Lagway is a shell of what we saw last season. Despite Billy Napier and crew trying to tell us for eight months that Lagway was getting mental reps and everything was fine, it turns out not playing football for eight months has consequences.
But if the Gators were to make a switch to Jones, the four-star freshman who looked solid against LIU, it doesn't change the fact that Billy Napier is still calling plays.
LSU looked like they had Connor Stalions on their sideline and seemingly knew everything Florida was running. The thing is, it doesn't require some elaborate sign-stealing scandal to figure out Florida's offense; it just requires a TV.
We had said before the game, when highlighting what the Gators needed to do to win, that:
"We've mused throughout the Napier Era how predictable his offense can be at times. Yes, against USF, he had a nice slant and wheel route combo that freed up Tony Livingston only to be dropped, but there were plenty of other moments where USF was just sitting on routes because they didn't fear getting burned by something different.
Perhaps the most notable was on the same drive as the Livingston drop. The Gators had 3rd and 15 and opted for a short slant to J. Michael Sturdivant. While conventional wisdom would state that the USF DB plays a bit safer due to having no other help, he instead drove down instantly and made the tackle because he didn't fear a double move.
Knowing that Jack Pyburn will be on the other side and is familiar with this offense inside and out, if Napier were playing chess, he could bait LSU into overplaying some well-known tendencies the Gators have and hit them with something to exploit."
Well, on multiple interceptions, including the pick-six, LSU baited Lagway into a slant, and Florida did nothing to make LSU fear anything different was coming.
Don't get it twisted that Lagway also threw one pick into triple coverage and seldom flashed what made him a five-star. But playing Jones doesn't fix the fact that the opposition is still going to know what's coming next.